Mouths of Babes

Saz Martin #5

by Stella Duffy

Book by Duffy , Stella

Genres: Crime, Lesbian, Fiction, LGBT

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Stella Duffy was born in London and grew up in New Zealand. She has lived and worked in London since the mid-1980s. She has written seventeen novels, over seventy short stories, and devised and/or written fourteen plays. The Room of Lost Things and State of Happiness were both longlisted for the Orange Prize, and she has twice won Stonewall Writer of the Year. She has twice won the CWA Short Story Dagger. Stella is the co-founder of the Fun Palaces campaign for cultural democracy. Her latest novel is Lullaby Beach (Virago).
She is also a yoga teacher, teaching workshops in yoga for writing, and a trainee Existential Psychotherapist, her ongoing doctoral research is in the embodied experience of being postmenopausal.

Reviews

[Danni The Girl · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t even remember buying this book.
I just didn’t really like this book much
There were too many little sub stories that I wanted to know more about.
I actually wished the story focused more on Saz being a detective. Don’t really understand why at the beginning she took on a small job. There was no relevance for it, it wasn’t part of the story.
I don’t think any of the characters had enough depth. Like a girl was raped and attacked and there was no emotion behind that.
The ending was shit. Carrie was probably my favourite character and she died. It was rushed and not well executed..... it’s not a race to finish the book.
There wasn’t enough description either. Not 100% sure what the characters were like, or the rooms they were in or anything.
Totally confused me when Ewan died. Wtf did he fall off? I thought he was in a play ground.
The idea itself for the story was good but just poorly done. Wasn’t for me sorry. I won’t be rushing to read any more of Duffy’s work anytime soon.

[Kristina Dostálová · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stella Duffy je pro mne naprosto neznámou autorkou a přesto už má na kontě více knih než ti, které tak obdivujeme. Po této knize jsem sáhla v knihovně vesměs náhodou a i když jsem knížce dala jen tři hvězdičky, opravdu jsem si příběhu užila.
Četba pro mne byla trošičku náročnější, jelikož kapitoly byly pouze číslovány a přesto byla každá vyprávěna někým jiným a dokonce i v jiném čase. Takže jsem se musela velmi soustředit, abych odhadla "kde a s kým jsem".
Vina a lež má trošku detektivní nádech, a má v sobě hned několik témat, o kterých se moc nemluví a která jsou přesto tak strašně aktuální. Jedním z nich je lesbický vztah dvou mladých žen, které se rozhodnou společně vychovávat dítě. Do toho se prolíná tak vážné téma, jako je šikana na střední škole. To samozřejmě anotace neuvádí, a já si osobně myslím, že je to velká chyba, jelikož by tahle kniha upoutala možná mnohem více lidí.
Autorka má určitě na psaní talent. Má dar se vcucnout do psychického rozpoložení všech svých hrdinů. Těch ubližujících, i těch, kterým je ubližováno. Hlavní zápletka knihy je sice na konci vyřešena, ale nekončí příliš dobře. Inu, ne vše, co jsme si v mládí zaseli, se podaří vyřešit tak, abychom žili spokojeně a nepronásledoval nás vlastní stín z mládí.
Nemám ponětí, co bych knize vytkla. Možná jen to, že by si zasloužila hvězdiček více. Ale to by se mnou musela ještě více zacloumat.

[Lynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the first Stella Duffy book I have read and it is going to feature in a course I am doing about women detective writers. It was a very good read - with no black and white characters. It reminded me very much of Val Mcdermid's books. I found the ending a bit unconvincing which is why I didn't give it 5 stars. I'd like to read some more Saz Martin stories.

[Kirsty Darbyshire · Rating 4 out of 5]

I keep coming back to Stella Duffy's books. This one is fabulous. Nicely mysteryish without being anything like a detective story. I kind of wish I'd read the Saz Martin books in order now.

[Kim Blakemore · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really great book, and the last in a series. I won't give away any plot, just say that it really explores the (decades long) after-effects of bullying - for both victim and bully. Well done.